


I have loved the stars, fondly

by Notawriterjustalurker



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Light Angst, Power Outage, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24373051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notawriterjustalurker/pseuds/Notawriterjustalurker
Summary: Matt shows Karen what the night sky looks like from the rooftops of New York City
Relationships: Matt Murdock/Karen Page
Comments: 25
Kudos: 29





	I have loved the stars, fondly

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this one's pretty impulsive. I literally wrote most of this half asleep after watching a meteor shower with my bf (we didn't see any meteorites by the way 😂) but the whole time I was just thinking about Karedevil so that says a lot about my life lmao.
> 
> Also look at me keeping it PG! Unheard of!  
> Hope you enjoy ❤️

It's not uncommon for Karen to stir in the night when he's away. She's a shallow sleeper at the best of times, preferring to be awake when he returns, even if all he does is slip wordlessly into bed beside her. Tonight though, something's off. She fights the heaviness of her eyes, frowning in the dark, seeking a visual anchor, something to separate reality from dreamscape. And yet it takes a moment for her to figure out what it is, even though it should be the most obvious thing in the world.

It's like she hasn't opened her eyes at all. Everything's black.

Her legs carry her out of the bedroom, her hands feeling the air in front of her, nearly bumping into the back of the chair in her haste. When she eventually finds the couch, wary of the coffee tables jagged edges against her shins, she sits and lets her eyes adjust to the darkness. How strange it is to see Matt's apartment unlit, the neon glow that seems to permeate everything it touches, extinguished, like it was never there, the night sky outside, now the only visible light, casting a faint blue sheen that lays like silk over the objects closest to the windows. The city isn't without its usual bustle though, it still hums with the sound of commotion, disturbance amongst the non-sleepers, the night wanderers, their world having suddenly stopped moving for a short while.

"Karen," 

Matt's voice is tender, but it still startles her. 

It's amazing how invisible he is in the dark, he moves with such efficiency that he's managed to make it all the way to the bottom of the stairs without her noticing his presence.

"What's going on out there?" 

"Power outage," Matt says, "half the city's out."

She pushes her hair back from her sleepy face, "how come you're back so soon?"

He slips off his mask, "just checking on you,"

She knows he does that sometimes, on the quiet nights, comes and then goes, he rarely ever wakes her that way but it always seems to leave a footprint in her dreams that she has some vague recollection of in the morning.

"Don't you think it's peaceful?" She says sleepily, shaking off a yawn that's half way out of her mouth. She sees Matt's smile even in the dark, his teeth glinting slightly in the low light from the window, 

"C'mere," he says, holding out his hand, gesturing for her to follow him, "bring that."

She pulls the blanket from the back of the couch and wraps it around her shoulders. Matt leads her back up the stairs, back the way he came, out into the night through the roof access door.

" _ Holy shit _ ," she gasps.

It's a perfectly clear night, the air is crisp, but not so cold that it's uncomfortable on her exposed skin, and the cosmic blanket above them is for once, unchallenged by the amber twinkle of New York city lights. She cranes her neck back, taking in as much as she can of the vast space above her, "I've never seen - it's -," she finds herself a little wordless, "can we sit?"

"Sure."

They hunker down together with their backs against one of the chimney stacks, Matt's arm around her, pulling her in for warmth. 

"You ever think about what's up there?" She whispers.

Matt chuckles, "I don't think my head's capable of it." She supposes that's obvious, given that he can't see and that he has any number of other things to focus on at any one moment.

"My mom and I used to look at the stars a lot when I was a kid," Karen says, "she'd say, if you ever feel sad, you should look up, something about, the further away you look from home the more grounded you'll feel. Corny right?"

"Not at all," Matt smiles and he shuffles a little tighter to her, "your mother was a smart woman,"

And Karen feels her cheeks blushing hot despite the cold, "she was. I miss her," she feels Matt squeeze her fingers.

"Can you describe it to me? The sky?"

She blinks back the moisture in her eyes, filling up her lungs with a deep breath, "it's really beautiful Matt. Imagine the deepest, darkest blue, almost black. But, it stretches on in all directions, beyond measure, really. And there's these glowing beacons, small but scattered, like glitter, millions of them, and they're not just light, Matt, they're stars, planets - world's," she tips her chin up again towards the darkened ceiling, her hair bunching up against the brick behind her, "some of them are ghosts," she adds, "burnt out stars, black holes, I don't know if I'm looking back in time, if one day one of those lights will just… disappear, if anyone will even notice," there's a real wonder in her voice then, she realises she's almost talking to herself, "sorry," she chuckles, gentled, the quiet of the night seeming all too fragile against the swell of her voice. 

But Matt's doing that thing he does, when he's listening, really listening, that head tilt, his eyes trained towards the direction of the sound, towards her lips, absorbing every word, every breath.

"Thank you," he says simply, and his expression seems satisfied in a way she hadn't expected, like she really answered his question, like he really saw something new for the first time.

"And what about you?" Karen says, "is it chaos, out there?"

She watches him detach himself from the comfort of her being for a moment, eyes rolling upwards, meandering the way they do when there's almost too much to fixate on, "it's still Hell's Kitchen, but, it's quieter now, with you."

And she doesn't think she could love him anymore if she tried. His face bathed in the glow of the stars, the moon, pulling her in like the tide. And when he kisses her this way, slow and deep, she feels the words without sound in her mouth, the I love yous, the stay with me's, their tongues sliding over one another in a slow dance she wishes would last for hours. It almost always gets emotional when he's like this, when he doesn't need to be anywhere else, when he doesn't want to be, despite everything. It's a feeling worth living for.

But then there's a flicker. A light that she sees, even through her closed eyes, enough to distract her from the heat of his mouth. It's the electronic buzz the city coming to life again, like a fire's been lit at the base of every building, every skyscraper, licking at every window until the peaceful night is all but bleached out, forgotten. And then the noise, it's shrill even to Karen, everything switching back on, the alarms, dogs barking, people, commotion, she instinctively finds herself covering Matt's ear softly with her fingers, 

"Oh Matt," she says, soft against his lips, all those inputs, a million and one things happening at once.

"Block it out. Just block it out," she whispers, "come to bed with me," and there's a pleading in her voice, fearing that the sound of the city might draw him away from her again. But it doesn't. Not this time. He doesn't let it.

  
  



End file.
